Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

Batman

DC New 52 Review: Justice League International #1

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On Saturday I realized I had been actively avoiding Justice League International.

As a fair representation as a lifelong DC skimmer, I look at this cover and see Batman, a lame alternate version of Green Lantern, and a bunch of unidentifiable nobodies. Not exactly the most-inspiring reason to read a comic book.

That’s always been one of my major problems with DC – past the heavy-hitters from Justice League of America and a handful of other heroes we all played with in the 80s as super-friends toys, I’ve never heard of these people. Unlike Marvel, they don’t sprout from one of just a handful of classic lines of 60s and 70s titles. I suppose you could say the same thing for the extended supporting cast of the Avengers or the X-Men, but they’re part of a larger interconnected family of stories. Even when they’re off panel their lives are being affected by what’s happening.

Can you say the same for Godiva or Vixen?

I seriously don’t know! Maybe I’m just projecting my DC distaste – but this weekend I finally sat down to find out by reading this issue.

Justice League International #1

Written by Dan Jurgens, art by Aaron Lopresti & Matt Ryan

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 – Okay.

In a line: “A different Justice League?”

140char Review: Justice League Int’l #1 is a standard “let’s start a team” take on a redebut, cribbing Giant Size X-Men. Plot set motion, but not thrilling.

Plot & Script

 

Dan Jurgens is a comics veteran – he knows how to structure a first issue and introduce a new team.

He starts with an effective and not-unappreciated device of performing a roll-call of potential members that reveals their countries of origin, though a quick primer on powers may have also been warranted. A UN security guy informs his committee “No masks or hidden identities” … and then tries to pick Batman? The committee members were wise to decline, yet Bats is still on flying the jet when the mission takes off. Doesn’t that make him a hijacker? I think it’s the League’s duty to restrain him.

Everyone gets at least three on-panel moments – their roll call intro, lines within the Hall of Justice, and on the battle field. We also get to see each member in action at least once. As a result, a newer reader has some way of identifying (and identifying with) a team of relative strangers.

The whole scene outside of the Hall of Justice doesn’t especially make sense. We’ve been lead to believe this is a world that hates and fears heroes – or, at least, it did five years ago when Justice League and Action Comics are set. Why, then, are there protesters outside of a Hall of Justice? Who would there be to assemble inside said hall? And, why had they vacated to allow the UN inside? Furthermore, we see that all these heroes seem to know each other and their work, which is also confusing in the context of this week’s books.

Weirdly, the only person who gets any character depth is Guy Gardner, who promptly disappears (I assume he is an act one gun that will come back in the third to save the day.) I was especially confused by the bullish Guy Gardner as a Green Lantern, since we see a different Green Lantern in Justice League. I thought there was only one per sector?

I suppose all will be answered, but the issue felt weirdly out of place against all of the other books this week. Also, this seriously plagiarizes Giant Size X-Men in a number of different ways, right down to the geological horror of the villain.

Artwork

 

Lopresti ads to the slightly retro feel of the book with a charming, ultra-heroic take on the characters. It’s not super-exciting, but it’s solid pencil work that nicely complements Jurgens’ story. I especially love his faces, which are distinct and expressive throughout, helping to sell a mostly “talking heads” issue.

In the past I’ve found Lopresti to be a bit rigid and stodgy, but that’s not the case here – maybe due to inker Ryan, or maybe from the beautifully understated set of colors. Characters feel as though they have weight, but also momentum. Godiva is especially lovely, Booster is a definitive over-muscled hero, and Batman has a lurking quality with his tendril-like cape. The action is limited to just a few pages at the end, but what we see is effective.

(In the final fight Vixen gets a Phoenix-esque flame effect around her body as she flies off the ground. I was confused as to whether Fire was using harmless flames to lift Vixen into the air or if this was a power beyond the seemingly Black Panther set of agility and claws.)

CK Says: Consider it.

Justice League International has a slight by-the-numbers feel thanks to its hastily assembled multicultural team of heroes (plus hanger-on Batman) responding to orders from a bald guy to face an unspecified geological terror. It’s Comics 101 – and, effectively the first half of Giant-Size X-Men #1.

Jurgens works to quickly establish the personalities and conflicts of all the members within the somewhat rote, old-school story. No Morrison-style existential dilemmas here. We’re given at least a hint of the attitudes of each and their powers were all obvious enough to be telegraphed by the art in a few panels of battle (except for Booster’s, which are unclear).

The bottom line is that this cookie-cutter approach aims the book more towards the DC insider than the newbie. A long-time DC fan will likely be excited to read the B-list characters they’ve grown to love (as I would be on an X-Men b-team). It’s a good intro for a new reader, but I’m not sure it’s worth revisiting in another month.

DC New 52 Review: Batwing #1

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While most of the Bat-books in DC’s linewide relaunch are giving established characters their own ongoing, Batwing cooks up a new hero practically from scratch.

This African continent entry into Batman’s new Incorporated franchise appeared in just two issues prior to Flashpoint, which makes him a relative stranger to readers. Can DC-U veteran and original Real World cast member Winick make Batwing worthy of his own title?

Batwing #1

Written by Judd Winick, art by Ben Oliver

Rating: 2.5 of 5 – Okay

In a line: “He told me, ‘You just have to sell it.'”

#140char Review: Batwing #1 is gripping & bloody w/stunner painterly interior art, but the tale of African national intrigue only fun when Bruce is on-panel.

CK Says: Consider it.

Batwing #1 boasts some of the most remarkable art of the first week of relaunch, and for that reason alone it is worth a browse.

Ben Oliver’s figures and environments are at once ultra-realistic and slightly hazy. The effect is likely the result of an ink-wash, but it evokes the sun-baked Congo landscape where the story takes place. It is criminal that the average cover doesn’t reflect the interior artwork.

The story is something more subtle. Winick pens rookie Bat-franchisee Batwing as stoic and dedicated, but emotionally removed. What might be a faithful representation of the Democratic Republic of Congo is a unfamiliar and vicious setting. There isn’t the comfort of spandexed sidekicks and green-haired Jokers here – regular men (and even police officers) prove to be as chaotic and murderous.

While Winick’s pacing is a bit decompressed, you won’t mind thanks to the stunner visuals and a relatively layered plot.

The real question about this book is – do you want to read this story? It has the potential to be a powerful drama, but the grim reality of the real-world setting might be a turn-off. I say, hang in for the artwork and the twist on the murdered former hero that sets Batwing’s investigation into motion.

DC New 52 Review: Detective Comics #1

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DC has gone all-in on Batman in their line-wide relaunch, with a total of eleven Bat books. Add to that Batman in Justice League and Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad and you’ve got thirteen books of bat-adjacent characters.

That makes Batstuff fully a fourth of DC’s entire schedule of relaunch!

Of course, right now Batman is bigger business than ever before, coming off of a critical and box office smash movie and a high-selling and acclaimed comic run.

Can DC continue the magic? And, on a more personal note, can they bring me to care about a hero I’ve always been cold to?

Detective Comics #1

Script & pencils by Tony Daniel, inks by Ryan Winn

Rating: 4 of 5 – Excellent

In a line: “This is a violation of my civil rights. A man should be able to slaughter in peace.”

140char review: Detective Comics #1, a keen, brutal reintro to Batman/Joker dynamic w/several twists (not just of the knife). Easily tracks from Dark Knight

Plot & Script

If I had any fear that the opening issue of DC’s namesake book wasn’t going to live up to its “Detective” moniker, it was quickly quelled. Tony Daniels’ plot has each player running their own game while they play in others’ – the Commissioner in Batman’s, the police in Joker’s, and Joker in that of a mysterious attacker and benefactor.

The result is a book where nothing happening is something.

Yes, we get fight scenes and explosions, but they’re almost beside the point. The point is following each player as they manipulate the others to the last page, and then going back to the beginning to follow them again on re-read.

If there’s one dead part of the narrative it’s a page spent with Dr, Arkham, who is one-note in his “he’s sick” diagnosis of Joker. Maybe that’s the point? I’m admittedly not a Bat-comics fan, so I’m not sure.

What is surprisingly not one-note is the police’s pursuit of Batman. It was annoying in Justice League, but here it feels in context. I’m sure it’s not entirely a coincidence that this is where we left Batman in the last movie.

Artwork

Tony Daniel’s art makes my whole body tense.

You know how some artists over-exentuate all of a characters’ muscles? Daniel is all about skin. All the little wrinkles and crevices around a smile or a grimace.

Every shot of Joker is downright unsettling, from the first one of blood trickling out of his nose to the disturbing final panel. Daniel sketches the traditional tall, skinny-headed Joker with the lithe body of a dancer, the face of your drunken great-aunt, a vicious hook of a nose.

Batman is big, in a reinforced-armor version of his classic blue and grey. His bulk dominates panels, and makes his fight with Joker look alarmingly one-sided (it isn’t).

Panels take time to drag your eyes across. Gotham’s dilapidated buidlings inhabit the background of the story in intricate detail.

I’m typically put off by disembodied heads on comic covers as a lazy way to squeeze in another character, but … well, it works in the context of this issue in multiple ways. I’m not saying the Joker gets beheaded or anything. Just read it.

Note that the cover cynically inserts “Batman” above the Detective Comics title. Also, in my typical graphic design snobbery, I must note that Batman’s italic white on gray-with-bat-symbol narration boxes make my eyes glaze over. They take way too much effort to read.

CK Says: Buy it!

Detective Comics re-debut is a visceral thrill that forces you to linger on every panel.

For new fans, this issue tracks almost perfectly from the closing frames of Nolan’s The Dark Knight, wisely tucking away any dissonance in the Batman universe for other titles to handle. As with Dark Knight, the Joker is the star of this issue, and every panel of his pale white form is both rewarding and nauseating.

Batman himself is relatively flat here – but this isn’t a book about character revelations – it’s Detective Comics, and it lives up to that name entirely.

Given how quickly the ending will send you back to page one, I have high hopes that the remainder of the arc will include several more circuitous turns.